Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Friday asked children to care more for nature and work towards a better future.

At a colourful event held at her residence in Central Delhi to mark Earth Week, Dikshit, who is also Delhi's environment minister, asked hundreds of
students from various schools to follow the three Rs- reduce, reuse and recycle - so that lesser waste was generated and the amount of pollution could be checked. Government officials claimed that more than 3,000 students from eco-clubs of 400 Delhi schools spent time at a nature trail at Dikshit's residence amid a picnic-like atmosphere.

"We have taken a pledge to conserve earth," Dikshit said. Sources said the green trail at the chief minister's residence had a wide variety of exotic flora and fauna and a host of trees like those of 'imli', 'neem' and 'babul'.

The green park is also the home to a large number of bats besides various species of birds.

The chief minister also released a book titled The Biodiversity of Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary at the occasion.

The natural trail was decorated with eco-friendly material and was divided into various parts for activities like story-telling session, making of animal masks and film screening.

The venue had art installations made of recycled materials such as colourfully painted discarded bottles, wood waste and tubes. The CM also released a poster on the common butterflies of delhi. In order to upgrade the nature trail a watch tower, tree and shrub signages, badges and a new illustrative booklet have been added.

The trail for long has been serving as an effective mode of outdoor education where green canopy, interpretation program are in place to explain about the green environs of Delhi in general and about the environs of the premises in particular.

A touch screen projects natural, bird calls and authentic information about Delhi's green. The Nature Trail was first inaugurated in 2006.